Month: February 2019

This past week the Super Kids celebrated Valentine’s Day and the 100th day of school on the same day.  These two celebrations just happened to fall on the same day!  All of the grade 1 and 1/2 multiage classrooms in our school participated in “The Amazing Race to 100”.  Over 160 kids from 7 classrooms raced through different challenges set up in each of the classrooms.  Teachers and parent volunteers helped direct the teams with the help of arrows and of course a few road blocks.  After each challenge was completed the teams got a completion card to put on their ring before racing to the next task. Some of these activities were 100 exercises, making binary code bracelets, building the tallest tower with 100 cups, and solving a code using a number code.

 

I want to say a HUGE thank you to the 5 parent volunteers that joined us from my classroom and jumped right in.  We couldn’t have done this without you!

After a morning of 100 day activities we turned to Valentine’s Day activities.  The class was so excited to “mail” their valentines to each other, open their cards, play Valentine themed games, have a special snack, and watch Franklin’s Valentine.  It was a great afternoon celebrating friendship in our classroom.

   

Last Wednesday we had the opportunity to go to our school’s home economics classroom and have a cooking class with Mrs. Dulder.  To say the class was excited would be an understatement.  After putting on our aprons we headed down ready to spend our afternoon learning together.  Mrs. Dulder demonstrated how to make pizza buns by introducing us to rainforest ingredients such as pepper and oregano.  The class listen intently and couldn’t wait to cook together.

The class was divided into 5 kitchens and with the help of Mrs. Dulder, Mrs. McKay our Educational Assistant, and a parent volunteer we were ready for the challenge.  The kids were amazing!  They worked together getting everything ready using the kitchen tools, following the recipe, turning on the oven, taking turns, and waiting for their creations to cook.

 

While waiting each group was responsible to follow the example card and set the table.  This was adorable!  We ate our pizza buns, cheered our water glasses, and then each group was responsible for cleaning up their kitchen.  What amazing learning!

    

Thank you Mrs. Dulder for having us and teaching us these valuable life skills.  Each student got to take home a “Pizza Party” booklet with word searches, activities, and recipes.  During choice time at the end of the day the kids dove into these booklets doing the activities, colouring the pictures, and reading the recipes.

I even heard from one family that their daughter did their own demonstration at home for their family and made them dinner!

This was an “amazing” week of learning together.  🙂

 

How can it already be February?  January was a bitter cold month in Winnipeg which resulted in a lot an indoor recesses!  We have had 3 straight weeks of them.  As we all know, kids need those breaks to move so they can come back to the classroom ready to learn.  This week my colleagues and I were done with choice time in the classroom for recess.  We raided the gym (with our P.E staff’s consent) and set up stations in the hall.  Curling, bowling, and hula hoops were a few activities the kids picked.  Here’s hoping for a bit warmer weather this coming week so the kids can play in the snow!

 

The Rainforest has taken cover our classroom.  Where are they found?  What makes a rainforest?  Why does it rain so much there? If over half of the animals in the world live there, why are we cutting them down?  These are all great questions that the class has come up with as we dig deeper into our inquiry unit.  The kids have created a 3D bulletin board of the different layers in the topical rainforest with the help of our buddies.

   

The Super Kids have started their research projects on an animal that lives in the Rainforest.  The kids are learning more about the adaptations that animals makes to live in their habitats with the help of the website Pebble Go, books, and QR codes.  We have been focusing on what jot notes are and how we can take information from a source. With modelling and practice the class has become quite good at this.  Some students even asked me to borrow my highlighters because thats what their older siblings use when working on their projects.  🙂

    

Why does it rain so much in the rainforest?  That question became our focus this past week as we talked about what humidity is and how the water cycle works.  Some of the Super Kids had prior knowledge of the water cycle and were excited to share what they knew with their classmates.  Changes of state and condensation experiments were explored to help explain this concept.  We even took advantage of the REALLY cold weather by taking hot water outside and tossing it into the air!  It turned directly into gas to the amazement of the kids.  Of course I went outside and they watched from the window. 🙂

Bell Lets Talk Day is a day in Canada where  there is a focus on mental health and well being.  Understanding this concept in a grade 1/2 class can be complicated.  I feel that our class talks about our feels everyday with the help of common language from the zones of regulation and the bucket filler books.  Students know how to express their feelings by saying, “I’m in the blue zone” or “My bucket is low”.  We don’t have to be happy all the time.  It is ok to feel sad, mad, worried, or frustrated.  It is normal.  How we handle it is important and I stressed that our classroom is a safe place to express those feelings.  We read the book “In My Heart”, watched a few clips from the movie “Inside Out” on YouTube, and practiced stress management techniques like deep breathing and yoga.

 

Our school had some special guests this week.  Mrs. G’s class won a special visit from two of the players on the Winnipeg Jets!  We were thrilled for them, The woodlily wing decided to line the halls to make them feel welcome.  Our chats of “Go Jets Go” were so loud you could hear them all over the school.

 

Reader’s workshop and math workshop centers have been going strong with a focus on word work and number sense development.

 

“Coyote Explorations” wrapped up this week.  The Super Kids were involved in many activities like gardening, game making, drama, art experiences, wrestling, magic and STEAM activities.  I loved when the kids all came back to the class after their experiences and we shared what we did.  They were all so excited!

 

This week is both Valentine’s Day and the 100th day of school on the same day!  All grade 1 and 1/2 classes in our dual track school are participating in “The Amazing Race to 100”.  Kids will race through different challenges in all of the classrooms with the help of parent volunteers.  There are even road blocks along the way.  It should be an exciting morning.

The afternoon will be spent celebrating our classroom friendships for Valentine’s Day.  A list of the students names were sent by e-mail to the Super Kids families for card making.  Stay tuned….and stay warm!